Nathan Schneider b9317490fb Added section on gameplay usage in README | 2 years ago | |
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lib | 2 years ago | |
modpol_core | 2 years ago | |
modpol_minetest | 2 years ago | |
.gitignore | 2 years ago | |
GOVERNANCE.md | 2 years ago | |
LICENSE | 2 years ago | |
README.md | 2 years ago | |
depends.txt | 3 years ago | |
description.txt | 2 years ago | |
init.lua | 2 years ago | |
login.lua | 2 years ago | |
mod.conf | 3 years ago |
Modular Politics is an extension that enables diverse governance processes on multi-user platforms. It offers a library that enables users to create or adapt their own modules that add specific governance functionalities.
This implementation is a mod for Minetest, a free/open-source voxel game. It is designed to be easily adapted to other multi-user platforms that also employ Lua as an extension language.
Modular Politics is built around groups called orgs. At the base is an org with all users in it, called root
by default.
Modules enable people to do things within orgs, such as decide on membership, grant powers to the org, and much more. Modules can be added and modified by users to meet their needs. Modules can also be nested in each other, so one module can rely on another module to accomplish a process. Within an org, choose the module that you want to use:
Modules might simply carry out actions in the game, or they might require a group decision to do so. They might also change the modules available to users of a given org.
The point is that Modular Politics gives you the ability to do whatever kind of politics you want with your modules.
To use this in Minetest, simply install it in your mods/
or worldmods/
folder. Minetest will load init.lua
.
In the game, open the Modular Politics dashboard with the command /mp
.
For testing purposes, players with the privs
privilege (generally admins) can use the /mp
command, which resets all the orgs and opens a dashboard.
Modular Politics can also be used independently of Minetest as a command-line tool. Currently command-line use of modpol requires a Unix-style system, but it is intended to become more fully platform independent.
The command-line version is in the modpol
subdirectory. To run the program on Unix systems in CLI mode, install lua or luajit and execute the following in this directory:
$ lua[jit] login.lua
You can also interact with the interpreter by starting it this way:
$ lua[jit]
> dofile("login.lua")
In the interpreter, for a list of global functions and tables, use modpol.menu()
.
By default, a data directory named "data" will be created in this directory. /data
will contain a log file and serialized program data files.
Another storage method may be chosen in modpol.lua
. A StorageRef-based method for Minetest 5.* is included: storage-mod_storage.lua
.
Modular Politics seeks to implement a theoretical framework, also called "modular politics," which proposes these design goals:
Additionally, Modular Politics seeks to counteract the tendency for "implicit feudalism," according to which rigid, top-down power structures are the norm in online spaces. To this end, some design patterns include:
It is certainly possible to use Modular Politics to replicate practices of implicit feudalism, such as all-powerful admins, but doing so requires extra work to overcome these defaults.
This project is led by Nathan Schneider of the Media Enterprise Design Lab at the University of Colorado Boulder, as part of the Metagovernance Project.
Contributors include:
We are grateful for initial support for this project from a residency with The Bentway Conservancy. Read about us in The Field Guide to Digital and/as Public Space.
We'd love to welcome more contributors. Please join the conversation in the Issues, our Matrix.org channel, and the Minetest.net forum.
Learn more about the project and how to develop your own modules in the wiki.